An analysis of the radiation from circular arrays of directive elements

A simple analytic formula for the radiation of the angular harmonics excited by a large cylindrical array is derived. The dependence of the phase on elevation angle and cylinder diameter relative to a wavelength is shown and compared to an exact solution. The difference between a continuous distribution and discrete array is presented; and the angular phase perturbations produced by the discrete array are also derived. The results can be used for computing the radiation field produced by multiple harmonic excitation of the array, and indicate the effect of the element pattern, number of elements, and spacing.